Chamois antelope risk everything to get into cycling shorts

While searching around the great interwebs, we stumbled on this gem of a video. It shows 10 chamois antelope or mountain goats in the French Alps who get caught up in an avalanche. As you may know these little creatures used to donate their hides to make the chamois pads in cycling shorts. What’s that!? Didn’t know that animals like this have been involved in making cycling shorts? I guess you haven’t read our ultra-intriguing article on that subject (that article is here). These little creatures essentially made us humans invent chamois cream (thank you little chamois antelope; Doc’s would be nothing without you).

Anyway, 4 of the 10 get swallowed up by a mountain of snow…what happens to them? You’ll have to watch.

Chamois Mountain Goats Get Caught in an Avalanche

Bicycles, Bloomers and Wool Shorts: Those Were The Days

Two women riding bicycles in long skirts, circa 1900. Photo Courtesy of The Larry Hart Collection

Have you ever thought about how easy we have it today with bicycling shorts? Well, it’s certainly been a long, hard road, with many hills and valleys to conquer.

Most fashions back in the day weren’t really designed with sports in mind, especially cycling shorts for men and women. In the late 19th century, it was pretty much the norm that men play tennis in long flannel pants, and they probably still would if it weren’t for Henry “Bunny” Austin, the first man to wear shorts at Wimbledon in 1932. Women had it worse, as they were required to wear full-length dresses for decades on the court, until Suzanne Lenglen wore a skirt that exposed her calves in 1919. American Gertrude Moran pushed the envelope a bit further in 1949, when she appeared at Wimbledon wearing a short tennis dress with ruffled, lace-trimmed knickers, which led the media to call her “Gorgeous Gussie.” Change was bound to come in terms of athletic dress.

Bicycling and Heavy Skirts

Bicycling back in the 19th century was clearly more of a fad than an actual sport. There was obviously no proper cycling attire for women back then…they more or less had to wear their daily clothes, meaning heavy dresses, primarily made of wool or cotton. In fact, even before bicycle shorts existed, it was considered shocking for women to even ride a bicycle, or even show their ankles, which could lead to horrible things…such as smoking and maybe even dancing!

In today’s world where most bicyclists wear shorts and padded gear, no such thing existed back then…kind of like our early 20th century tennis players. Now, imagine these heavy, flowing skirts as the norm, eventually becoming an encumbrance and causing accidents where the skirts’ many layers would get caught in the chain…and this is years before safety helmets. So, in an attempt to avoid any potential catastrophes, women rode sidesaddle, which sort of made pedaling a tad difficult. And even worse, with all of that heavy clothing, just imagine the saddle sores…if only they had some chamois cream!

A woman in the early 20th century demonstrates the liberation of bloomers over a heavy skirt. Photo Courtesy of ilikethethingsilike.blogspot.com.

Bicycling and Bloomers

The bicycle was one catalyst that helped women gain some sort of independence. Cycling would be seen as a revelation of sorts for women, as it progressed from a novelty into a popular activity or sport, along the lines of baseball and basketball. The situation of inconvenient skirts would become resolved with the advent of a baggy type of pantaloons, aka bloomers, which allowed women to have greater freedom while riding. But, bloomers, while fashionable for the time, would inevitably be short-lived.

What also helped to circumnavigate the inconvenience of cycling in skirts was the step-through frame (aka ‘women’s bike’), which allowed for women to ride while wearing skirts; this design also made it easier for them to dismount. In retrospect, the step-through frame has been seen as a safer design for riders, as it gives them overall greater opportunities to avoid injury…but let’s get back to bloomers, shall we?

Wool Shorts and the Chamois

While bloomers were incredibly popular in the early 20th century, they eventually led the way towards bicycle shorts. There was just one problem: they were originally made out of heavy wool, which made for an incredibly uncomfortable ride. Can you even begin to imagine the chafing and saddle sores one would experience back then? As wool shorts caused such issues, there was much experimentation, including using the hide of a chamois, a European species of goat antelope, whose incredibly soft leather would eventually save many a bruised tush over the years. The chamois was important, and remains a crucial feature of today’s bicycle apparel.

It wouldn’t be until the late 1950s that Spandex made its first appearance, which inevitably revolutionized the whole world of athletic ensembles and got rid of bloomers and wool shorts once and for all. Amen!

So you may be a fan of our skincare products like Doc’s All Natural Chamois Cream. We hope that your catching all the exciting sporting news covering cycling, triathlons, and running on our Facebook Fanpage or in our email news blasts. We love all the latest sporting news like you too and have created RSS feeds on our fanpage that automatically translate French and Dutch into English.

BUT have you noticed that when you click on the translated links, you go to a page that’s ENTIRELY in French or Dutch? Well, this blog post will give you some simple steps to set yourself up with nearly automatic translation of the news stories we’re linking you to.

All you need is Google’s Toolbar for Explorer or Firefox. Go here to download the toolbar for Explorer orhere for Firefox. If you use Google Chrome, you’re ready to translate without adding anything on. Google Chrome will ask you if you’d like to translate automatically whenever you navigate to a foreign language news site.

The following details setting up Explorer with the Google Translator Toolbar. The process for Firefox is similar but not identical.

Once you have the Google Toolbar in place, click on the “More>>” area (circled in yellow below)

Under “More>>” click on “Translate”. Once, “Translate” is a clickable area in your Google Toolbar, you can click on it to translate any webpage that is pulled up in your browser as seen below:

Click on the lower right “Translate” button, select your language, and away you go to new understanding. Remember that Doc’s feeds from Europe are almost always originally in French or Dutch.

Do you know the truth about chamois pads?

Chamois pad made from REAL chamois leatherDo you know the truth about chamois pads

What’s the story behind (pun intended) that giant fabricated pad in the seat of your cycling shorts? Before the days of mass-produced artificial materials, cycling shorts were padded with chamois leather (pronounced “shammy”). A chamois is a European antelope whose hide was used extensively in the 1800’s by the French glove makers. It was discovered that by tanning chamois hide in cod oil, the resultant leather became highly absorbent. Carriage footmen and then chauffeurs used chamois gloves for cleaning and polishing carriages and cars; the uses of chamois leather extended from there and centered around its soft and absorbent characteristics.

History of the chamois pad

Cycling began to gain popularity with the introduction of the modern “safety” bicycle and the pneumatic tire in the 1880’s and 90’s. Soon thereafter, clothing began taking on activity specific designs with the introduction of cycling shorts that were simply modified wool knickers. In order to reduce bunching of the wool shorts, designs began introducing multiple-panels. Unfortunately, multiple panels invariably produced overlapping seams in the most delicate areas. Chamois leather was then used to cover these seams and create a bit more comfort for cyclists.

Try Doc’s Natural Chamois Cream

Development of modern chamois pads

With the introduction of DuPont’s COOLMAX material in 1986, polyester based materials like COOLMAX began replacing chamois leather in cycling shorts. COOLMAX was designed as a moisture managing or “wicking” fabric by its unique structure; it is made of four-channel polyester fibers that are woven together in cross sections to allow air to flow through the fabric. Most modern cycling short pads are now made with some sort of moisture managing polyester fabric. Use of moisture managing fabric in cycling shorts is ideal as moisture build-up can promote chafing as well as bacterial and fungal overgrowth.

How chamois cream was developed

Creams and lotions for chamois pads were originally used when real animal hide was used in cycling shorts. Chamois leather can become quite dry and stiff after repeated use and washings. Therefore, “chamois creams” were originally designed to keep the real leather chamois pads soft, supple, and absorbent. With the advent of modern chamois pads, the need for such creams may seem to be less clear; there’s certainly no need to “condition” modern chamois pads. Modern chamois creams, however, do improve comfort by creating an anti-friction barrier between the skin and chamois pad as well as an anti-bacterial and anti-fungal environment thereby decreasing the chance for hotspots, chafing, and saddle sores. It is imperative that chamois creams not contain petroleum products like mineral oil that are known to breakdown the synthetic fibers in most chamois pads. Ideally, chamois creams should not contain overly thick or occlusive ingredients like petroleum jelly or silicone that hamper the airflow and wicking properties of chamois pads.

How the Paralympic Games Came to Be

Chances are that if you caught any of this year’s Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, then you might have seen some of the Paralympic Games as well.

An international sporting event that is usually held in conjunction with both the winter and summer Olympic games, the Paralympic Games (or Paralympics) brings together athletes from all over the world who have a variety of physical disabilities.

Athletes compete in specific categories based on their disability, including amputee, intellectual disability, cerebral palsy, visually impaired, wheelchair and a category labeled as “The Others” consisting of athletes with multiple sclerosis and congenital issues.

But did you know that the genesis for the Paralympics dates back almost 100 years?

George Eyser and Origins of the Paralympic Games

While the Paralympics have coincided with the Olympics since 1988 (meaning that they are held in the same year and using the same venues as the Olympic host city,) their origin dates back to the 1904 Summer Games in St. Louis, Missouri. It was here that gymnast George Eyser, who had a prosthetic leg, won a gold in the vault competition, which, at the time, didn’t have a springboard. He also won gold in the parallel bars and rope climbing, while netting silver medals in the pommel horse and the 4-event all around contest. While Eyser appears to have been generally forgotten, he was a trailblazer, proving that individuals with disabilities could successfully compete in athletic competitions.

Ludwig Guttman and the Wheelchair Games

In the aftermath of the 1904 Games, there had been several attempts to create a series of athletic competitions for disabled athletes. The first notable example occurred during the 1948 Olympics in London, under the guidance of Dr. Ludwig Guttmann, a neurologist at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, who had escaped from Nazi Germany during World War Two.

Dr. Guttmann was a specialist in treating spinal injuries and was determined to see disabled athletes compete on a level equivalent to modern day Olympians. Dr. Guttmann was instrumental in establishing the 1948 International Wheelchair Games an event that featured 16 wheelchair bound participants, mostly war veterans, in an archery competition. Subsequent games over the next 12 years would feature veterans from other nations in other sports, making it more of an International event.

The First Paralympics and International Recognition

For his efforts, the International Olympic Committee presented Dr. Guttmann with the Sir Thomas Fearnley Cup in 1956, on behalf of his work with disabled athletes. The Wheelchair Games were then held in conjunction with the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, which have historically been considered the first Paralympic Games.

While the 1960 Paralympics hosted 400 athletes, they were only, at the time, geared for wheelchair bound participants, but what made these games unique is that they were the first to include disabled athletes from all walks of life, not just war veterans, giving them greater opportunities to demonstrate their athletic skills (it should be noted that aside from the Paralympics, the Wheelchair Games, now known as the IWAS World Games, have also been held annually at different venues around the world).

By 1976, athletes with different disability classifications (such as visually impaired, amputees and developmentally disabled) were given a chance to compete in the Summer Paralympics in Toronto; up to 1600 International athletes participated. Since then, disabled athletes have competed in sports such as alpine skiing, cycling, ice hockey, judo, swimming, rowing, table tennis, curling, basketball, fencing, the paratriathlon (bicycle racing, in which the athletes use handcycles) and tennis.

The number of competitors has fluctuated over the years, with more athletes appearing during the summer than in the winter. At the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing, China, for example, there were close to 4,000 athletes, compared to approximately 550 at this year’s Winter Paralympics in Sochi, Russia.

Media Coverage

If you happened to watch this year’s Winter Games in Sochi, granted you were able to find endless coverage on several cable networks, with some broadcasting events up to 18 hours per day. While the Paralympics draw huge crowds and features an opening and closing ceremony, as well as medal presentations, it often suffers from a lack of overall media coverage, when compared to the Olympics. In some European countries, there is evidently more coverage of the Paralympics than in the United States. In many cases, the Paralympics are often relegated to a daily one-hour highlights program on some US networks, with barely any coverage of the games at all. Hopefully, there will be a move to change this in the future, giving these incredibly talented athletes the same exposure as their Olympic colleagues.

Curling and Luge…What’s all the Hubbub About?

The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia are winding down. And if you’re a fan, then you’ve probably gotten your fill of figure skating, ice hockey, snowboarding and downhill skiing. While those sports are incredibly popular there are other sports at the games that while equally popular in their own right, are often overlooked. Whether you’ve had a passing interest in curling or luge, or weren’t sure as to why they’re Olympic sports, here’s some information about them.

Curling

You may think that curling is nothing more than shuffleboard on ice, but it actually has a long and rich history. Curling dates all the way back to Scotland, where the first recorded game took place in 1541. The first curlers used flat river stones that were rolled across the ice, similar to a game of marbles and quite different than the large, buffed hunks of granite used in today’s version. It was originally known as ‘the roaring game’, due to the sound that the stones made as they slid across the ice. However, today’s game has more to do with skill and negotiating the stone’s path, than back in the days when it was more a case of just being lucky.

Curling’s Origins and the Present Day

Aside from its Scottish origins, Curling is extremely popular in Canada, as many Scots brought the game there and set up curling clubs, some of which have been operating since the early 19th century.

In present day curling, and according to the World Curling Federation’s rules, the course, or sheet, as it’s known must be flat and be up to 146 to 150 feet long and 14.5 to 16.5 feet wide. In many professional tournaments, such as the Olympics, there are several sheets established to allow for simultaneous matches.
Curling has two teams, with four players each, who slide large oval shaped stones across the ice, or curling sheet, in order to score points on a painted target. Each team is given eight stones to score, with the goal of achieving the highest score. The score is tabulated by how close the stone rests to the center of the target, after all stones are thrown….kind of like shuffleboard. Once the stone is in motion, two sweepers vigorously brush the ice ahead of it to help provide a smooth traveling surface.

Curling and the Olympics

As for the Winter Olympics, Curling was a demonstration sport at the first games in Chamonix, France in 1924, and also at the Lake Placid games in 1932. It didn’t really catch on and was discontinued until it made appearances at the Calgary games in 1988 and in Albertville in 1994, respectively. It eventually became an official Olympic sport, for both men and women’s teams at the 1998 Games in Nagano, Japan. Interesting to note: in 2002, the ICC decided that the first curling competition from 1924 would be deemed an official Olympic event and not a demonstration, so medals were finally bestowed to the team from Great Britain, retroactively.

The Luge

While sledding has been a popular pastime, dating all the way back to medieval Norway, the luge itself is considered a fairly new sport. If one person can be held responsible for making the luge a prominent sport, it would be Caspar Badrutt, an enterprising Swiss hotelier who heavily promoted the concept of meshing winter sports with vacation packages, which included a prototype of the luge in the latter half of the 19th century. Surprisingly enough, this concept eventually took off, and sledding would increase in popularity. Luge organizations were founded in Europe in the 1880s and early 1900s, eventually leading it to become part of the International Bobsleigh and Tobogganing Federation in 1935.

Steering the Luge

As for the luge itself, it’s a sled that resembles a shovel with stirrups, which can fit either one or two people. Riders lie face up, with their heads back and operate the luge with their calf muscles or their shoulders; a rider’s body weight basically controls the sled. The luge goes incredibly fast, with speeds ranging anywhere from 70 to 95 miles per hour. Lugers are judged primarily on their time, sometimes up to one thousandth of a second, which means that competition can be fierce. While the track has many turns, a slight bump against a wall can cost a competitor dearly, especially a millisecond’s worth of time.

The luge runs on either a natural or artificial track. Artificial tracks are oftentimes refrigerated to produce a slicker surface. Natural tracks are usually created from preexisting mountain trails, and often have a rougher consistency, compared to the artificial tracks. Most lugers tend to prefer the artificial tracks, as they tend to provide a faster run.

The Luge in America

While the luge is quite popular in Europe, it took a while for the sport to catch on in the US. The United States Luge Association was created in 1979, and over time Americans appear to have embraced the sport to some degree. While the luge has increased in popularity, it’s also a fairly dangerous sport. While it’s not uncommon for a luger to suffer his or her share of bruises and the occasional broken bone, there have been instances of several lugers dying during Olympic practice runs, either related to both steering or track issues.
While the similar skeleton had been an Olympic sport during the 1928 and 1948 Winter Olympics (it would reappear from 2010 onward), it would eventually be replaced by the luge for the 1964 games in Innsbruck, Austria, where it has been a fixture ever since.

Everyone has at least one favorite sports movie. Even if you’re not a die-hard sports fan, you have to admit that there’s something about specific films related to sports that have drawn you in. There is without question some sort of emotional connection, as we identify with a protagonist conquering insurmountable odds and coming out victorious, which can pack a powerful punch. In some cases, it’s just a love of the sport itself and certain films that focus on basketball, baseball or football, will always have a connection with hardcore fans.

Since the early days of cinema there have been scores of sports themed films that appeal to all audiences. For example, Charlie Chaplin tackled boxing in The Champion (1915), and our beloved Marx Brothers became immersed in college football in the hilarious Horse Feathers (1932). Here are five specific films (some well known, some not), all of which deal with different kinds of sports that are unique in their own way. Enjoy!

Breaking Away (1979)

A low budget film that was a huge box office hit, Breaking Away remains one of the greatest films of all time. Funny and equally touching, this endearing film chronicles teenage bicycling enthusiast Dave Stoller (Dennis Christopher), who aside from winning an Italian bike and dreaming of bicycling glory is fairly clueless (as are his three buddies) as to what his future holds. With bicycling as his only outlet, he attempts to prove his worth by participating in a local college bike race, despite the fact that he and his friends are seen as outcasts. Much of the story is actually based on the life of Dave Blase, who along with the film’s screenwriter, Steve Tesich, both rode in the Indiana University Little 500 bicycle race in 1962, which inspired the film’s gripping climax. This is a quirky and incredibly inspiring ‘feel good’ film that produces equal amounts of belly laughs (Paul Dooley as Dave’s father steals the film!) and tears. This is as honest as filmmaking gets!

Slap Shot (1977)

The ultimate audience movie, Slap Shot was immediately controversial when it was originally released, due to its misogyny and unfathomable vulgarity, which in today’s context seems pretty tame. Despite the abundant four letter words and overt sexism, this is actually a rather entertaining tale about a struggling local hockey team, the Charlestown Chiefs, that has an atrocious losing streak and even worse attendance. Paul Newman plays the team captain who fulfills his teammates heads with pipe dreams that their team is being sold to Florida. Then come the Hansen brothers who bring a special meaning to the phrase “fight dirty” and help boost the team’s popularity with their goonish antics. Slap Shot is one of those films that stays with you; it’s crude, offensive and laugh out loud hilarious, and as far as we can tell, there are no stunt doubles involved… all the lead actors do their own footwork on the ice, including Michael Ontkean who actually turned down a contract from the NY Rangers, to pursue an acting career. More

A Look at our Most Athletic Presidents-Part Two

Football: A White House Obsession

Despite chronic back pain in his later life, John F. Kennedy was a rather athletic youngster. He was a wide receiver on Harvard’s junior varsity football team, and his family was frequently photographed playing touch football as well as sailing at their Hyannis Port estate. Kennedy was also an avid swimmer; in fact, when his PT boat was sunk during World War 2, Kennedy jumped in to the ocean to save his drowning crew members, saving their lives. Other youthful endeavors involved boxing and he even dabbled in baseball on occasion. A firm believer in physical fitness, Kennedy actually wrote an article for Sports Illustrated, where he stated: “We do not want our children to become a generation of spectators. Rather, we want each of them to be a participant in the vigorous life.”

Richard Nixon played a little football at Whittier College, but not much. While he was on the Whittier football team, he was nothing more than a third string lineman, yet, that didn’t stop him from being an avid fan of football and baseball. He was the first sitting President to ever attend The Kentucky Derby as well as a regular season National Football League game. Aside from being an armchair quarterback, Nixon’s other athletic pursuits included golf, sailing, swimming, and believe it or not, bowling. Nixon seemed to have a real affinity for bowling as photographs and home movies now assert; both the President and Mrs. Nixon were known to play many games in their spare time in the White House bowling alley.

While often mocked as being a klutz, Gerald Ford, was actually one of our more athletic presidents. Football was the sport he excelled at while a student at the University of Michigan; he was a lineman who helped the Wolverines win back-to-back national titles in 1932 and 1933. Ford was voted the University’s MVP in 1935. So exemplary were his skills on the field that Ford was offered contracts from both the Detroit Lions and the Green Bay Packers, which he declined, opting to enter law school instead. But that didn’t end Ford’s athletic interests. He was recruited by Yale University to work as an assistant football as well as boxing coach in 1935; eventually Ford was accepted to Yale Law School in 1938. Once Ford became President in 1974, he managed to find time to engage in various sports, with fishing, golf, swimming, tennis, horseback riding and skiing among his favorites. He was also known to use weights on a daily basis and remained a football fan for the rest of his life.

While attending the U.S. Naval Academy, Jimmy Carter was heavily involved in track, cross-country and basketball. He also played a little football while a student, but by all accounts, softball was and remains a real passion for him. While he was president carter would often organize softball games with members of his secret service detail. One well-documented 1977 game held in his hometown of Plains, Georgia, pitted Carter’s White House team against his brother’s press corps team, in which the President was victorious with a 19-17 win. Carter has remained consistently active during his post-presidency through his work with Habitat for Humanity, where he has worked side by side with volunteers constructing homes for low-income families. As recently as 2008, Carter still found time to play softball and do occasional bike riding.

As a young man, Ronald Reagan was quite athletic. Regan played football at Dixon High School, before he graduated in 1928. Swimming was another love of his and he worked as a lifeguard from 1927 through 1932, where he claimed to have rescued 77 people from the water to safety. Once he enrolled at Eureka College in Illinois, Regan was heavily involved in football, track and swimming. He eventually wanted to play baseball but he was doomed by his nearsightedness. As an actor in Hollywood, he improved his horseback riding skills by starring in many low-budget westerns and he cut a fine swath as Notre Dame halfback George “Gipper” Gipp in the film Knute Rockne: All American (1940).

As President, Reagan didn’t hide the fact that he was a hardcore football fan; he notably flipped the coin toss to start Super Bowl and hosted many athletes during his time in the White House. As the oldest man ever to be become president in 1981, Reagan was in remarkably good health and was often seen as a rugged outdoorsman, riding horseback and cutting down trees with a chainsaw on his California ranch.

Baseball and the Bush Dynasty

George H. W. Bush actually excelled in sports while a student at Philips Academy in Massachusetts, where he played basketball, soccer and baseball. Any athletic aspirations were put on hold with the start of World War Two, when Bush joined the Navy and became a Naval Aviator at the ripe old age of 18. It was during a battle against the Japanese in Chichijima that Bush’s plane was hit; yet he parachuted out of his plane at 1,500 feet before it crashed into the ocean. Returning home after the war, Bush attended Yale University, where he played first base (left-handed) and was eventually captain of the Yale baseball team, which played in the first two College World series tournaments (1947, 1948), coming in as the runner up. It was during his time as a senior, that Bush had the opportunity to meet Babe Ruth. Other athletic pursuits during this time included a stint on the Yale cheerleading squad.

While he gave up on sports to enter the world of the oil business and eventually politics, Bush always found time to partake in such sports as tennis, baseball, biking, running, fishing, hunting, and, of course, golf. In recent years, Bush has returned to parachuting to emphasize that seniors can still be active and that one’s age shouldn’t slow someone down. He made notable jumps to celebrate his 75th, 80th and his 85th birthday in 2009, where he jumped 10,500 feet.

More of an academic than an actual athlete, Bill Clinton has always struggled with recurring weight problems. He never played any sports while in high school or college, citing a love for music, especially the saxophone. While running for president in 1992, he took up jogging in order to shed some weight, but his fondness for junk food and fast food would always plague him and serve as a source of ridicule by the media. During his presidency, Clinton continued to jog, yet the stress of the presidency and unhealthy eating habits eventually caught up, leading him to have a quadruple bypass in 2004, and the implanting of two coronary stents in 2010. Since these health issues, Clinton has actually made a switch by adopting a full vegan diet. He’s also taken up limited exercise by walking, jogging and golf, in addition to practicing Buddhist meditation as a relaxation method.

Like his father, George W. Bush has a fascination with baseball. Like his father, George W. Bush also attended Phillips Academy, where he played baseball and was also a head cheerleader. The younger Bush also attended Yale and was also a cheerleader, yet he also dabbled in playing rugby where he was on Yale’s 1st XV. While he attempted to make it as a businessman in the oil industry, Bush switched gears and purchased a share in the Texas Rangers baseball team; he was a Managing General Partner and was often seen sitting amongst fans in the stands. Prior to running for Governor of Texas, Bush actually ran in the 1993 Houston Marathon; he was 46 at the time and finished with a time of 3 hours, 44 minutes, 52 seconds. During his two terms as Governor and two terms as President, Bush always took time out for some mountain biking, through the trails on his Crawford, Texas ranch. In recent years, he has hosted the Warrior 100K, an annual mountain bike ride for wounded veterans in order to highlight the Wounded Warrior project.

Basketball Comes to the White House

While he professes a love of sports, President Barack Obama is also a huge golfer, playing over 100 rounds since he was elected. In addition, the President is also a fan of the Chicago White Sox, the Chicago Bears and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

However, basketball has always been Obama’s major passion. Bitten by the basketball bug at an early age, he shot hoops at Punahou High School in Hawaii, and eventually played during his time at Occidental College in 1979, where he led in scoring on the JV team; he was affectionately known as “Barry O’Bomber” for his deadly jump shot. The President often played pick up games while running for office, and still takes time out to play a few rounds of the game with members of Congress and Cabinet secretaries on the former White House tennis court, which has been reconfigured into a basketball court. The president takes basketball so seriously that he is no stranger to on the court injuries: he once broke his nose during a game when he was younger and once got a busted lip, and 12 stitches, while playing a game during the Thanksgiving holiday in 2010. In addition, Obama has hosted several NBA stars, including LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Carmelo Anthony, for informal games on behalf of the Wounded Warrior project.

A Look at our Most Athletic Presidents

While it’s not a requirement for the President of the United States to be a sports fan, many have held a deep obsession with particular sports. While we’ve seen images of Dwight Eisenhower playing golf, Gerald Ford playing football, Bill Clinton jogging, and Barack Obama shooting hoops, you’d actually be surprised at how many of our presidents have an athletic background. For many presidents, sports such as football, golf and baseball, among others, were more than just a passing fancy; they were in many ways an obsession.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, John Adams saw most athletics as a waste of time and stressed the values of education over physical health. Yet, as the times would change, many of our presidents would find an equal balance between running the country and engaging in athletic pursuits.

Adventures in Equestrianism

While many of the early presidents were lawyers, farmers and soldiers, it is widely assumed that the majority of them engaged primarily in horseback riding, which would make sense, as it was the only common form of transportation readily available. For example, it’s widely believed that both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were avid riders and may have actually participated in fox hunting, but as for the other early presidents, there is little information available about their athletic pursuits.

Often considered by many to be our greatest president, Abraham Lincoln was apparently a scrappy young man who at one point was involved in a highly touted wrestling match against the leader of a local gang, known as the Clary Grove Boys, a match, which Lincoln of course would win. And then there is his legendary expertise as a rail splitter, so he was physically adept, no doubt due to the countless chores he was required to do on his family’s farm.

Ulysses S. Grant apparently had an uncanny ability to tame horses when he was a youngster. In charge of collecting firewood for the family household, Grant worked horses from a very early age, which eventually led to him becoming something of an expert rider in some circles. In fact, Grant set an equestrian high jump record that was unbeaten for almost 25 years, yet he cut his equestrian activities short to pursue a career in the military instead.

Considered to be an athletic youngster, Grover Cleveland was well versed in wrestling, in which he would beat many an opponent, and he was also an expert swimmer who would leave his competitors far behind. Cleveland loved the great outdoors, especially camping, hunting deer and fishing on Cape Cod and in Upstate New York. So great was his obsession with the outdoors that he wrote a small book, Fishing and Shooting Sketches, in which he described his enthusiasm for hunting and fishing.

The Ever Adventurous Teddy Roosevelt

Of all the presidents, none of them appears to have had as vigorous a background as that of Theodore Roosevelt. In fact, Roosevelt defines stamina, in that he managed to accomplish more than most people could before he became our youngest president at the age of 42. Prior to entering the Oval Office, Roosevelt was a New York State Assemblyman, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Police Commissioner of New York City, Governor of New York and a Colonel in the US Army who led The Rough Riders during the Spanish American War. Plagued with asthma as a child, Roosevelt’s father encouraged him to take up a strict regimen of exercise, which would eventually involve outdoor activities, including horseback riding, swimming, hiking, as well as boxing and tennis while he was a student at Harvard. Tennis would actually be a source of fascination for Roosevelt, and he was known to play with some of his younger staff members. He also actively engaged in jujitsu, boxing and wrestling while in office, so there was never a dull moment during his administration.

Golf Dominates the Presidency

While a student atDavidson College Woodrow Wilson played center field on the college baseball team. Aside from Wilson being a big baseball fan, he was also obsessed with golf. He apparently played more than 1,000 rounds of golf while in office and had his secret service detail paint his golf balls black, so that he could play in the snow.

Even Warren G. Harding was known to hit the links every now and then. While not a hardcore enthusiast, he had a reputation for betting on every hole he played and was often seen imbibing an alcoholic beverage during play, when the country was immersed in Prohibition.

Herbert Hoover is probably the only president to have a game specifically designed to help him stay fit. ‘Hooverball’ was created by the White House physician in 1928 and combined elements of tennis, volleyball and the medicine ball. Teams of 2 to 4 players would hurl a six-pound medicine ball over an eight-foot tall net; scoring was similar to tennis and while the game was played throughout Hoover’s term in office, the game was never popular and quickly forgotten.

Despite being paralyzed by polio, Franklin D. Roosevelt made a point to enjoy sailing, fishing, riding, playing golf and tennis, as well as hunting and a good game of poker. Interesting enough, Roosevelt was an avid birdwatcher or birder throughout his life, and he always made it a point to take in some bird watching, regardless of his busy schedule.

Despite having numerous heart problems, you couldn’t keep Dwight Eisenhower off the golf course, and his early years show that he was quite an accomplished athlete. While a cadet at West Point, he failed to make the cut for the academy’s baseball team, which he said was one of the major disappointments of his life. Yet, that didn’t stop him from making the football team, where he was a running back and linebacker. It was during a 1912 game against the Carlisle Indians that Eisenhower tackled future Olympian Jim Thorpe; it was also during this game that Eisenhower tore his knee and had to leave the team. He would further injure this same knee again while attempting horseback riding and boxing; his future athletic endeavors would involve gymnastics and fencing. However, golf would eventually become a major passion for the president; he had a putting green built on the White House lawn and played close to 800 rounds of the game while in office (he apparently had handicap ranging between 14 and 18). In fact, Eisenhower’s obsession with golf helped increase the overall popularity of the sport in the 1950s.

How Kittie Knox Took a Stand in the Fight for Cycling Equality

There are many individuals from the early days of bicycling that are often relegated to minor footnotes in history. Kittie Knox appears to be one individual who made a profound impact in women’s cycling, and was brushed aside under the carpet of history.

What made Kittie Knox unique, you might ask? Not only was she a pioneer in women’s cycling, but she also helped break color barriers at a time when segregation was, more or less, the norm.

Knox was born in 1874 to a mixed race couple; her father was a free black and her mother was white. While there seems to be very little information about Knox’s early years, by accounts she worked as a seamstress, who just happened to have a fascination with the bicycle.

The Cycling Enthusiast

Even while bicycling was in its infancy, Knox joined the Riverside Cycling Club, one of the first the first African-American cycling groups, in 1893. At this time it was considered inappropriate for a woman to ride a man’s bicycle. Knox was daring in that she not only chose to ride a man’s bicycle instead of a woman’s, but also opted to wear men’s pantaloons or jodhpurs, making it easier for her to cycle. It was considered unladylike for women to wear pants, so her decision to do so was fairly controversial.

And cycle she did. Cycling wasn’t just a fad for Knox: she found herself participating in numerous multiple 100-mile rides and in one instance came in 12th place out of 50 male and female cyclists in a major national race. In addition to her membership in the Riverside Cycle Club, Knox became a member of the League of American Wheelmen (now known as The League of American Bicyclists) in the spring of 1893.

Confronting Racism

History reminds us how horrible segregation was, and, sadly, it was no stranger to cycling clubs. The powers that be at the League of American Wheelmen, under the guidance of one Colonel W.W. Watts, had instituted a color ban, which claimed that the League was to be open only to white members. However, there were no restrictions against women joining the organization, of which there were a few hundred at this time.

Knox’s appearance at the League’s 1895 meeting in Asbury Park, NJ, caused a bit of a stir. Held at the Asbury Park Hotel, which was segregated, many of her fellow cyclists enthusiastically embraced Knox, yet upon her entry to the convention she found herself snubbed while presenting her League credentials. Rebuffed, she quietly left, yet the seeds for discontent were already sown. Many of the organization’s members felt that Knox was treated unfairly, and the Massachusetts delegation of the League intervened to ensure that she would be able to participate in the meeting’s various activities.

Regardless, while others came to her defense, her presence at the meeting was still controversial, especially when she danced with a white man during a social function, which caused a large number of attendees to leave in disgust.

Despite Knox’s attempt to be independent as well as trying to break the color barrier, her life was tragically cut short, when she died in 1900 from kidney disease. She was buried in an unmarked grave.

As for the League of American Wheelmen, after the kerfuffle with Ms. Knox, they officially amended their constitution to assert that their organization was for ‘whites only’. Amazingly enough, this little stipulation was completely forgotten for decades, until it was discovered and reversed in, believe it or not, 1999!

Rediscovering Kittie Knox

But, this isn’t the end of the story. Kittie Knox would in fact make headlines once again. Author Lorenz Finison stumbled across Knox’s story, while researching a book on Boston’s bicycling history in 2006. Intrigued, Finison would spend the next several years searching for any of Knox’s living descendants. Once he found her relatives, they unanimously felt that Knox had not been given her due in history. Eventually, there was enough interest in Knox and her story to help her receive a properly marked headstone, and a final resting place at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts in September of 2013…113 years after she passed away.

A Brief Breakdown of Bicycle Gears
The gears, or sprockets, are part of the bicycle’s drivetrain that helps determine the rider’s cadence, or revolutions per minute: basically the rate in which the cyclist is pedaling and turning the pedals.

The chain drive is probably the most important part of the bicycle, and while understanding it may be a bit confusing, overall it’s as easy as pie.

How Gears Came Into PlayOriginally the very first bicycles, such as the penny-farthing, had the pedals attached directly to the wheel, meaning that the cyclist had to sit atop the wheel, with each turn of the pedal being relative to one turn of a wheel.

While it’s generally believed that Leonardo Da Vinci developed the chain and cog concept in the 15th century, several hundred years would pass before it became reality. There were many ineffective designs during this stretch, until it was realized that power needed to be derived from the cyclist’s foot to the rear wheel and also had to work in a manner where it was comfortable for the rider. The first efficient chain drives were developed in the 1880s, and the rest is history.

And once gears entered the picture, they made rotational motion a more efficient way to pedal and get around. Here, the cyclist could be seated between the wheels, which gave better balance and also allowed for more efficient riding, especially when confronting hills.

The Benefits of GearsIf you’re riding a one-speed bike (you probably had one as a kid) then you’re accustomed to riding on very flat surfaces, yet encountering hill can be a major issue. Without the ability to shift gears, you’d have to stand upright and pedal incredibly hard to get any momentum. The development of the chain drive eliminated this altogether, allowing for a more efficient ride, and giving the cyclist the option to travel at a faster pace as well as greater flexibility on climbing steep hills, when most of us would probably give up, get off the bicycle and walk instead.

What Gears Actually DoBack in the day, bikes either had one speed, then three then ten. Now it’s not unusual to find bikes that have up to 27 different speeds, meaning that there are up to 27 different configurations available between the front and back cogs. This helps accommodate bicyclists when they encounter different riding conditions, such as a sudden shift from rough to smooth roads and hills.

These cogs provide the ability to shift back and forth into different gears. As they are different sizes, the larger cogs tend to be used for higher gears on the front wheel. The back wheel has larger cogs, which are used for the lower gears, while the smaller cogs are used for higher ones.

Bicycles have two levers, which let you shift into these different gears. These are attached to two cables; one is connected to the rear cogs, while the other serves the front chainwheel.

Pedaling helps push the chainwheel, which rotates the rear wheel and gets the bicycle moving. As there are different size cogs on the rear wheel, every time you shift, you’ll notice that the back cog will spin more than once for each pedal turn.

Shifting the levers allows the bicycle’s derailleur (the bicycle’s transmission, which includes the chain, the gears, and the shifter that moves the actual chain) to shift into different configurations that essentially forms a new gear.

Low gears give you the ability to pedal easily while riding uphill, for example. As the gears range from low to high, these will come in handy when you’re challenging a steep hill.

When you shift to a higher gear, you’ll feel resistance at first, but eventually it becomes easier and gives you the opportunity to increase that resistance, making it easier for you to pedal faster.

It’s a given that you’ll pedal with a more strenuous effort at first, before finding a good pace and rate that will accommodate the gears. Most cyclists should have an average cadence ranging from 60 to 90 per minute, which means rotating the pedal at least once each second. You may find yourself over pedaling in a lower gear and then really struggling in a higher one, until you get to right momentum and eventually a consistent cadence for a more manageable ride.

Granted, if you own a bicycle, you’ve probably wondered who invented it. There’s not a real clear answer on this one, as there have been many designs over the past few centuries that have led us to today’s beloved two-wheeled mode of transport. Like television and the movies (of which there are numerous inventors), the bicycle went through many stages of trial and error to get to where it is today.

Early Prototypes and Likely Hoaxes

But let’s go back a bit, all the way back to the late fifteenth century…where it is believed that at least the idea for a two wheeled transportation device was first developed. While it is not entirely proven, there are some who claim that Gian Giacomo Caprotti, a student and servant of Leonardo da Vinci’s, drew a sketch that depicted an early form of bicycle, complete with pedals and gears. Even some 500 years later scholars have disputed this particular sketch as a hoax, while others insist that Caprotti’s alleged 1493 drawing is, in fact, authentic.

Another early form of the bicycle was the célérifère, claimed to be an invention of the Comte de Sivrac around 1791. This was a two-wheeled vehicle with a wooden frame; it was foot driven and had no steering, so one basically had to walk in a seated position, with no handlebars. However, it turns out that there was no such device as the célérifère, nor was there even a Comte de Sivrac! The entire story was in fact a hoax, created by French journalist Louis Baudry de Saunier in the 1890s. It wasn’t revealed until the mid twentieth century that a patent had been filed in 1817 for the célérifère, which in this case was a four-wheeled horseless carriage. Regardless, the crude design of de Sivrac’s célérifère would evidently serve as a source of inspiration in the not too distant future.

The Draisine

In 1817 Baron Karl von Drais invented what he would call the Laufmaschine (or running machine). Also known as the Dandy Horse, as impeccably dressed young men often called Dandies rode them, it would become commonly known as the Draisine. Patented in 1818, the Draisine has many of the features that one would find in today’s bicycle, minus the pedals. It was a two-wheeled device that was easy to steer, yet it operated on foot power, meaning that the rider had to straddle the device while running in order to travel.

Much of Drais’ inspiration for the Draisine came during a massive crop failure that affected most of Europe in 1816. Unseasonably cold weather brought on by a volcanic eruption in Tambora, Indonesia affected most of the northern hemisphere; up to 200,000 individuals perished in Europe alone. Many horses also perished during this epidemic, leading Drais to view his invention as an alternative method of travel.

Constructed out of wood, the Draisine was far ahead of its time. Constructed of solid wood, it featured brass bushings in the wheel bearings, iron wheels, a rear-wheel brake and 6 inches of trail at the front-wheel, which allowed for a self-centering caster effect. As it challenged many riders to learn how to balance, it became extremely popular and the Draisine was mass-produced in both Europe and in the US. However, there were many accidents (there were no real bicycle helmets at the time and most riders were men who often wore their best clothes while out for a ride) so the Draisine’s popularity eventually waned.

The Vélocipède and the Hobby Horse

Yet, this wasn’t the end of Drais’ invention. In 1818 France, Nicéphore Niépce (often regarded as the father of modern photography) developed a version of the Draisine called the Vélocipède (French for ‘fast foot’), which resembled Drais’ invention, only this version had an adjustable saddle. Niépce’s device was extremely popular (you can see it at his museum in France), and in one of his surviving letters, he contemplated building a Vélocipède with a motor.

In 1819 England, well-known coach maker Denis Johnson also opted to perfect Drais’ design. With a variety of nicknames such as the Hobby Horse and the Pedestrian Curricle, Johnson took the initiative to redesign the frame, producing a more curved shape that allowed for the use of larger wheels without elevating the seat. By 1819 the Draisine, or the Hobby Horse was the rage, especially among well-to-do young men who were known to wear out many pairs of boots in the process.

Known as part of the Grand Tours, a trilogy of three intense European stage races that includes the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a España, the Tour de France is probably the most renowned bicycle race in the world. It is also one of the most grueling as it tackles some serious terrain, especially as it winds its way through both the Alps and the Pyrenees over the course of roughly 23 days. Held annually since 1903, (with two postponements due to the First and Second World Wars) the Tour has spread in popularity and drawn in competitors from around the world, including such famous riders and multiple tour winners as Lucien Petit-Breton, Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Greg LeMond and Miguel Indurain.

The Dreyfus Affair

While we tend to think of the Tour de France as a cycling competition, the roots of the race have an origin based in politics. The Dreyfus Affair was a major scandal in France towards the end of the nineteenth century. Alfred Dreyfus was a French soldier who was sentenced to life in 1894 (his conviction would later be overturned) for selling military information to the German Embassy in Paris. Dreyfus was sent to the notorious Devil’s

Island penal colony for approximately five years. It was later revealed that another soldier, major Ferdinand Esterhazy was behind the scandal, of which the French army suppressed all new evidence, therefore making Dreyfus the scapegoat. There were major demonstrations after the scandal broke, with many French split as to whether Dreyfus was innocent or guilty. Much of the controversy involved anti-Semitism, as Dreyfus was Jewish, but in the end he would be exonerated on all charges by a military commission in 1906.

With tensions already high over the Dreyfus affair, an incident occurred during a horse race in Auteuil in 1899, when Marquis Jules Félix Philippe Albert de Dion, the owner of the De Dion-Bouton automobile company who insisted that Dreyfus was guilty, was arrested for assaulting the president of France, Émile Loubet (who felt the Dreyfus case should be re-examined), with his cane. De Dion’s assault of the president was reported in the news, including the largest sports publication in France, Le Vélo, whose editor Pierre Giffard, supported Dreyfus. De Dion was so incensed by Giffard’s negative criticism of him that he created a publication called L’Auto in 1900 that he hoped would rival Le Vélo.

Promoting the First Tour de France

With L’Auto in its embryonic stage, de Dion hired Henri Desgrange a celebrated bicyclist and sports journalist who had set 12 world track cycling records, to serve as L’Auto’s editor. Initially, the paper did not meet its expectations in rivaling Le Vélo, and was in danger of shutting down. During a staff meeting, one of the paper’s journalists, Géo Lefèvre (a former writer for Le Vélo), suggested that the paper hold a six-day race throughout all of France in order to promote the paper, increase its circulation and put Le Vélo out of business. On January 19, 1903 L’Auto announced what would be the first Tour de France.

The 1903 Course

The first Tour de France was run in six extremely long stages making up a total of 1, 509 miles; it was held from July 1st through the 19th of 1903. There were 60 professional cyclists competing, all of whom came from Europe, primarily France. Competitors were given a three-day rest period between each stage (some of which lasted for over 200 miles). The first stage was from Paris to Lyon (290 miles); stage two went from Lyon to Marseille (232 miles); stage three was a 263 mile trek from Marseille to Toulouse; stage four was 167 miles from Toulouse to Bordeaux; the fifth stage travelled from Bordeaux to Nantes for 264 miles and the sixth and final from Nantes to Paris for 293 miles.

There were only two mountains to pass during the second stage, the Col des Echarmeaux (a 2,400 foot peak) and the Col de la République (close to 4,000 feet), during this first Tour, with most of the course being on flat roads, but, the majority of these roads were not paved, nor did the cyclists wear helmets. Cyclists were organized into teams, but were allowed to compete individually; they had the option to race a single stage for a fee of five francs or a fee of ten francs in order to complete the full course. Monitors were hired and posted throughout the course to ensure that every cyclist rode the full course fairly. The leader of the race was given a yellow armband to wear as L’Auto was printed on yellow paper (the Yellow Jersey worn by all leaders of subsequent Tours would be introduced in 1919.)

Maurice Garin of France would win the first, fifth and sixth stages, with his fellow countryman Hippolyte Aucouturier winning the second and third, while Charles Laeser of Switzerland would win the fourth. Garin would eventually win the first Tour de France to a screaming crowd of 20,000 spectators in the Velodrome in Paris, with a margin of 2 hours 59 minutes and 31 seconds, which remains to this day the greatest margin in the Tour’s history.

The Aftermath

The 1903 Tour de France proved to be an enormous success. Since that very first race it has drawn millions of tourists to France every year, all of which line the course to get a glimpse of the riders. The Tour is also extensively covered world wide by television cameras, with a record 44 million viewers tuning in to watch the 20th stage of the 2009 race.

The first Tour de France was not only a success for the riders involved, but it was also a success for L’Auto, which saw its readership increase dramatically. In 1944 L’Auto would eventually transform into L’Équipe (printed on white, instead of yellow paper), one of today’s leading sports papers in France, while Le Vélo would inevitably fold and cease to exist in 1904.

The Life of the Fastest Man on Two Wheels

While often noted as a minor footnote in history, Marshall Taylor was a pioneer in the cycling field. Not only was he the first African-American athlete to be designated as a world champion, but he also set several longstanding world records, some of which took decades to break.

Born in 1878, Taylor’s father served as a coachman for a wealthy family, the Southards, in Indiana. Taylor befriended the Southard’s son and he eventually moved in with the family, who gave him his first bicycle when he was 12 years old. Developing a knack for doing tricks and stunts on his bike, Taylor was hired by a local bicycle shop owner to perform stunts in order to attract customers. He often dressed up as a soldier while performing, which gave him the nickname of ‘Major.’

His first brush with competitive racing came in 1891 when he was 13, winning a race in Indianapolis. At 15 he successfully beat the 1-mile track record at the time, where he was celebrated and then ejected from the event, due to his race.

Racism would haunt him throughout his career, yet he made headway when he won a 75-mile road race in Indiana at 16; he was so fast that he was dubbed “The Black Cyclone.”

Despite the odds against him at the time, Taylor went professional when he turned 18. He competed in an arduous six-day race at Madison Square Garden, which drew other well-known cyclists of the day such as A. A. Hansen, Teddy Goodman, Albert Schock, Frank Waller and Ed von Hoeg. With such tough competition, Taylor won the final heat of the race by 105 feet over his closest challenger, A. C. Meixwell. He followed this victory with a first place win in the 1-mile open professional during a Blue Ribbon Meet of the Bostonian Cycle Club in 1897.

Taylor was so fast that by 1898 he held seven world records at distances from .25 miles to 2 miles. He also placed first in 29 of 49 races in which he was a competitor.

He would continue this streak by winning the world championship in 1899, where he set seven world records. His record for the mile with a standing start in 1:41 was unbeatable for the next 28 years.

Taylor’s popularity led to a lucrative deal with the E.C. Stearns Company who designed bicycles for Taylor, using a gear chainless system that was designed by Harry Sager. These bicycles weighed 20 pounds and featured an 88-inch gear that helped with sprinting and a 120-inch gear for longer strides. Taylor would continue to dominate cycling, by breaking the 1-mile world record in 01:19 with a speed of 45.56 mph in 1899.

Needless to say, Taylor was still unbeatable; winning 22 first places positions in nationwide races.

As the world sprint champion, Taylor competed throughout the US with resounding success (President Theodore Roosevelt was one of Taylor’s biggest fans). Such success however, would lead to Taylor being banned from most national races, simply because he was African-American. During this time, Taylor received support from one of his competitors, Earl Kiser, who argued to have Taylor involved in the world sprint championships, which Taylor would eventually win in both 1899 and 1900, making Taylor the first African-American to ever win a world title in athletics.

Taylor then went to Europe where he competed in a 1902 tour where he was victorious in 40 of 57 races.

In the early 1900s, nitroglycerine was the rage for cyclists competing in arduous six-day races. While primarily used to help victims of heart attacks, nitroglycerine had the extra effect of helping riders with their breathing…yet one aftereffect was that they would tend to hallucinate from of mixture of the drug and from being exhausted. Taylor gave the drug a try during one race, but had to withdraw from competition as he claimed that another racer was coming after him with a knife.

While Taylor was celebrated in Europe, he was banned from racing in the Southern US. There were accounts of Taylor being pelted with ice from competitors, nails thrown in front of his tires and on one occasion he was tackled to the ground and knocked unconscious by a competitor. Clearly sickened by the racism and feeling that he was getting up in years, Taylor would retire from racing in 1910 when he was 32 years old.

The remainder of Taylor’s life was not a happy one. Fairly wealthy at the time when he retired to Worcester, MA, he squandered his funds on bad investments, losing a large part of it in the stock market crash of 1929 (the same year that he published his autobiography, The Fastest Bicycle Racer in the World). Taylor died largely forgotten at the age of 53 in 1932 and was buried in a pauper’s grave. Despite the tragic ending to his illustrious career, Taylor always stayed positive to the end, once claiming: “Life is too short for any man to hold bitterness in his heart.”

But, Taylor was not entirely forgotten. In 1948, several former bicycle racers pulled enough funds with the help of Schwinn Bicycles to exhume Taylor’s remains and relocate them to a proper grave in Mount Glenwood Cemetery just outside of Chicago. A monument celebrating Taylor’s achievements can also be found outside the Worcester Public Library in Massachusetts. Taylor would be inducted into the Bicycling Hall of Fame in 1999.

Ever had a sore butt from riding? You’re not alone! Even the pros get sore derrières. In order to make you feel in good company, we’ve compiled some of the more famous or infamous saddles sores throughout the history of professional cycling.

• Eddy Merckx

Ever the consummate champion and the purest vision of a cycling strongman, even the Cannibal was sidelined by saddle sores. After the 1972 Tour de France, Eddy was so hobbled with sores that he stayed completely off of the bike for an extended period of time to heal. It was during this time off the bike that he solidified plans and resolved to attempt the hour record. Unfortunately, that was not Eddy’s only struggle with saddle sores. In 1976, his sores were so severe that he did not start the Tour de France despite a dominating spring campaign. He eventually underwent a surgical procedure to treat these sores.

Interestingly, Eddy was known for chronic bike fit woes. In fact, after fitting Eddy’s son Axel, Andy Pruitt (a bike fit specialist extraordinaire) theorized in his writings that Eddy might have had a leg length discrepancy like his son Axel Merckx. Imagine what Eddy would have done if Andy Pruitt had been in business during the 60’s and 70’s!

• Sean Kelly

Another “hard man”, Sean Kelly quit the 1987 Vuelta a Espana two days from the finish while in the lead due to a saddle sore. What a way to go out of race!

• Laurent Fignon

On the receiving end of an 8 second beat-down by Greg LeMond in the 1989 Tour de France, FIgnon was purported to state that he likely lost the Tour due to unbearable pain from saddle sores. Nevermind that LeMond was hobbled by sores on his feet and still managed to roll out with the 2nd fastest time trial in Tour history to take the yellow jersey. Despite our pro-LeMond stance, Fignon’s saddle sore is a relatively unknown facet of perhaps the most dramatic Tour de France in history.

• Greg LeMond

After a convincing 3rd Tour de France win in 1990, Greg LeMond bowed out of a few of the usual post-Tour criteriums due to saddle sores. These sores were so intense that he was apparently unable to move without obvious pain. Marking the decline of a great champion and the end of an era, LeMond abandoned the 1992 Tour de France on the l’Alpe d’Huez stage blaming unending torture from saddle sores.
• Oscar Freire

Oscar Freire missed defending his world champion road race title in 2005 due to a saddle sore that required an operation in June and kept him from serious training until October of the same year. That’s some serious time off!
• Lance Armstrong

Last but not least…Even Lance Armstrong has been hamstrung by saddle sores. In fact, one saddle sore nearly cost him a Tour de France title, impressive career, and cycling dynasty. During the 1999 Tour de France, Armstrong tested positive for corticosteroids. Armstrong had been using a steroid cream for saddle sores. After producing a medical certificate for use of the cream, Armstrong was not disciplined and was allowed to race on to win his first of seven Tours. During his “Comeback 2.0”, Armstrong found himself standing out of the saddle more frequently than normal in the 2010 Tour de France due to saddle sores. Between a sore butt and a body that had bounced off the tarmac no less than 3 times, it is a miracle that he even finished that Tour.

Saddle sores are a part of serious cycling and have even lost races and have changed professional careers. Fear not! There are measures you can take to prevent and treat these troubling problems. Look for subsequent posts covering prevention and treatment on saddle sores.